East Finals | Bears end Crusaders' dream run

Featured image: Aaron Camua | @aaron.camua

The Norths Bears shook off seeing their women's unbeaten season come to an end to put in a strong showing from start to finish to book their NBL1 East Grand Final spot with the 94-80 win over the Central Coast Crusaders.

The Crusaders arrived at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre having made the NBL1 East finals for the first time and then beating the Centre of Excellence in Canberra and prevailing in a heart stopper over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles last Sunday.

That saw them arrive to take on the Bears on Saturday night full of confidence and with the chance to play a Grand Final on their home floor next Sunday, but Norths weren’t in a charitable mood.

Having just seen their women's team suffer a first loss of the season at the buzzer to the Sea Eagles, Norths didn’t want to suffer the same fat on their home floor having finished the regular season in second and then booking a home preliminary final by beating the Sutherland Sharks.

The Bears made a fast start with a 10-0 run in the first quarter on the way to leading 23-13 by quarter-time even with Matur Maker already having seven points for Central Coast.

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Norths remained in control in the second quarter with another 31 points to 21 on the back of shooting 10/17 from the field and 4/7 from the outside and 7/7 at the foul line.

Lachie Bofinger was up to 13 points by half-time, Hunter Goodrick 12 and Fabijan Krslovic 11 while the Bears shot 50 per cent to just 38 from the Crusaders who only managed 21 points in the term on 8/17 shooting and 1/7 from behind the arc.

That lead blew out to 26 points for the Bears in the third quarter and they were still up by 19 at three quarter-time before the Crusaders did make an 11-0 run in the last term, but were coming from too far back.

Norths went on to score the 14-point win to set up the dream Grand Final against Sutherland next Sunday in what is their first appearance in a men's decider since 2018.

The Bears ended up collecting 16 offensive rebounds to seven and went 12/31 from the outside to 6/16 from the Crusaders to set up their place in the Grand Final.

Lachie Bofinger ended up with 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the win for Norths with Fabijan Krslovic delivering 23 points, 10 boards, two assists and two blocks with 5/9 shooting from the outside.

Hunter Goodrick also had 18 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk 12 points and two boards, and Matthew Wacher eight points, four rebounds and four assists.

Central Coast will still take plenty out of their season making the finals for the first time with Matur Maker finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Luke Cassidy added 16 points and 12 assists, Jamal Shoaib 15 points and six rebounds on 3/5 three-point shooting, and Garric Young 13 points, four boards and two assists.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | PRELIMINARY FINAL

NORTHS BEARS 94 (Bofinger 23, Krslovic 23, Goodrick 18)

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 80 (Maker 18, Cassidy 16, Shoaib 15)